Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-11-27
MALE AND FEMALE BRAIN.
What DR.. William A. Hammond Nays OF
tho Difference Between Them.

What DR.. william A. Hammond Nays OF
tho Difference Between Them.
Many observations have shown that the
average male brain weighs a little over
forty-nine ounces, while the average
female brain is q little over forty-four
ounces, or about five ounces less. The
proportion existing between the two Is
therefore as 100 go. This apparently
makes good showing for man, but when
we look at the matter in another, and
possibly more correct light, the advan-
tage is rather the other way; for relatively
to the weight of the body in the two sexes,
the difference, what there is, is in favor OF
woman. The body of the female is shorter
and weighs less than that Of the male.
Thus, in man the weight of brain to that
of the body has been found to be an
average of sc. so, while in woman it is
rs SO. 46, difference of .04 in her favor.
Possibly this may be more correct way
of determining the size of the brain than
by absolute measurements without regard
to the size of the body. The doubt arises
from the fact that we do not know that
very thin persons, in whom Of course,
other things being equal, the brain would
be relatively larger, are more remarkable
for mental vigor than are very stout ones,
in whom the relative size of the brain
would be less. Such being the case, it is
difficult to believe that the proportionate
size of the brain to the body has any i'm
portant influence as q factor in the pro-
duction of mind 1t is the absolute rather
than the relative amount of gray matter
that is to be considered in determining
the brain power. 1t must, however, be
borne in mind that the quantity of gray
matter cannot always be positively af-
fTmed from a determination of the size of
the brain, though in general it can
Again, the specific gravity of the male
brain, both of the white and the gray sub
stance, is greater in man than it is in
woman.
Bearing in view these differences, it is
impossible to avoid the conclusion that
there must also be some points of dissim-
ilarity in the minds of the two sexes. Not
necessarily that one of superior to the
other, but that they are different We
see the diversities every day, diversities
of perception, of emotion, of intellect, of
will In some respects the mind of man
excels; in others, that of woman is su-
perior. 1t would be bad state of things
for mankind if the mind in the two pri-
mary divisions of the human race were
the same. In barbarous nations the diff
ference in size is less than it is with civil
lied people, and as one consequence of
this feet there is not SO great difference
in the mental development. Thus among
the Australians and the negroes of Africa,
the skulls of men and women are much
more alike in size than they are in Euro
~ 60,
either the women for some cause or other
have not awaited themselves of the advan-
tages of civilization as factors in brain de-
velopment to the same extent rs man has,
or that among sayageS there is not that
dissimilarity in mental work that is found
among civilized nations, and that hence
there is not the same necessity for off
ference in brain development.
For it naturally follows that in the nor
nal skull there is a correspondence be-
tween its size and that of the organ con-
tanned within it. The work of a woman
is with them almost the same as that of a
man. Her mode of life, her dress are not
essentially different except in SO far as
they must be different on account of her
sex. But with civilized nations there is a
variety in modes of thought, in likes and
dislEles and in other mental characters
tics; in occupation, in manner, in clothes,
even in food, SO that the differentiation
between the sexes is far more disdactly
marked than it is with nations low in the
scale of progress. Who can doubt that
this is the direct result of differences not
only in the brain, but in other parts of the
nervous system?-Dr. William A. Ham
mond in Popular Science Monthly.